All charges dismissed against client, a National Football League Pro Bowl Player, arrested for Assault, after being accused of injuring an individual outside a Manhattan nightclub (as reported in all national major media outlets)

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All charges completely dismissed (including any traffic infractions) against client, a New York Times Columnist and National TV Pundit, for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) after police arrested him while in a vehicle allegedly sleeping behind the wheel with the engine on and keys in the ignition. __________________________

All charges dismissed against client arrested for Disseminating Indecent Materials to a Minor for allegedly engaging in sexually explicit chats with an undercover police officer posing as an underage girl in a chat room (as reported on front page of New York Law Journal)__________________________

All charges dismissed against client arrested for Making a Terroristic Threat after being accused of threatening another “Virginia Tech” shooting attack at Hunter College campus (as reported in newspaper)

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All charges dismissed against client arrested for 5th time involving DWI charges.__________________________

Charges dismissed against client facing state prison time after arrest for felony count of Aggravated Animal Cruelty for allegations that he beat his girlfriends dog nearly to death (as reported in newspaper) __________________________

Charges dropped against client arrested for felony count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon after client and four other co-defendants allegedly observed in school possessing a loaded Uzi that was recovered by police (other co-defendants serving state prison time) (as reported in newspaper) __________________________

Charges dropped against client, a teacher, accused of Inciting a Riot, after students protested in school after principal was fired (as reported in newspapers). __________________________

All chargesdismissed against client arrested for Disseminating Indecent Materials to a Minor for allegedly engaging in sexually explicit chats and sending sexually explicit pictures to an individual posing as a 14 year old girl in a chat room (as reported on television show Dateline)__________________________

Client avoids arrest and prosecution on Federal charges of Possession of Child Pornography after computer seized and client apprehended by special agent from the Department of Homeland Security.__________________________

Client avoids arrest and prosecution on possible Federal charges of Criminal Possession of a controlled substance with Intent to sell after ATF seizes a large amount of a controlled substance shipped from out of state into workplace.__________________________

All charges dismissed against client accused of depositing fraudulent checks in her bank account.__________________________

All charges dismissed against client arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a customer at fast food place.__________________________

All charges dismissed against client arrested for Driving While Intoxicated By Drugs after client allegedly found dazed and in possession of Isoflorene when stopped by police.__________________________

Client avoids arrest and prosecution on first degree rape charges after accused by female acquaintance of rape on a retreat.

The Importance of a Having A Skilled & Experienced Criminal / DUI/DWI Lawyer Handle Your DUI Case in New York

Criminal Record

An arrest for DWI in New York has many ramifications. First of all you will be facing criminal charges and a potential criminal record, as a conviction for Driving While Intoxicated would give you at least a misdemeanor record and in some cases a felony. A criminal record would potentially put someone in danger of losing their job or prevent you from seeking future employment if a background check was done or if you’re faced with filling out an application and asked “if you have ever been convicted of a crime.”

With a conviction a mandatory sentence would follow. You could receive a sentence of a fine, a DWI program, and a license suspension or revocation or even jail time or probation. A fine can range anywhere from as low as $300 to as high as $10,000 in some cases. Your license could be suspended for 90 days or revoked for as long as 18 months. You could also receive a sentence ranging from no jail time to up to 7 years. The trend in New York over the last couple of years has been the DA’s offices and courts getting much tougher on DWI cases. It would have been easy for me to say that most first time offenders without many aggravating factors would not have to aggressively fight to at the very least receive no jail time after a first DWI arrest. But nowadays some of the counties in New York, especially Nassau County, you need to aggressively fight DWI charges just to avoid jail time even on a first arrest. That is why it is important to have a knowledgeable and experienced DWI lawyer to handle your case. To maximize your potential in having your case dismissed or reduced to something without any record and mitigating your case to the lower end in the wide range of potential sentences. Aaron Wallenstein is a premier criminal lawyer who has had numerous DWI cases in New York dismissed. Our law firm handles DWI Cases in most New York Counties Such as Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Rockland, Westchester, Richmond, Nassau, and Suffolk. How your case is handled could be the difference between a dismissed case, or at the very least a reduced charge to something that would give you no criminal record, as opposed to having a criminal record. It could be the difference in having no penalty as opposed to serving jail time or paying a fine and doing a program. It could also mean the difference between having your driving privileges restored or having your driving privileges suspended or revoked for a longer period of time.

Forfeiture of Your Vehicle

A New York DWI case will usually not only have criminal ramifications but also civil ramifications, such as the seizure of your car. Under the Giuliani administration, it was established that the State of New York could seize your car as a civil penalty, just for being arrested for a DWI, since it was used as an “instrumentality of a crime”, much like cars or other assets seized from a drug dealer etc. The vehicle is then supposed to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to the State of New York. In most New York DWI cases, where the accused is the registered owner of the car driven, the police officer will seize your vehicle and voucher it for forfeiture. Sometimes, when an officer is not as experienced, he will return the car accidentally to a family member. Sometimes the officer will seize the vehicle for forfeiture even where the accused is not the registered owner of the vehicle. Often, the arresting officer will give the accused not only a voucher for his car, but a pink sheet of paper for the motorist to fill out for a retention hearing, to attempt to get his car back. Often, without a NYC DWI lawyer the accused fills out the request for a retention hearing to get their car back. In just about every case requesting this hearing is the wrong move in getting your car back. An experienced New York DWI lawyer will be able to get your car back for you in a timely fashion, with the least amount of hurdles, by dealing directly with the NYPD forfeiture unit and the DA’s office. In a recent article in the New York Post (December 30, 2008, “Seize Matters: Cops Keep Majority of Crook Cars”) the author claimed “the NYPD has always had overwhelming success” in cases involving vehicles confiscated for crimes. The article claimed “just 52 of 3,488 vehicles were returned last year” to the person arrested. Aaron Wallenstein, an experienced and skilled New York DWI / Criminal lawyer,has in every DWI case to date in NYC retrieved the arrested motorist’s vehicle.

Driver’s License / Privileges Suspended Pending Prosecution

In most situations an accused will have their driver’s license or privileges suspended by a judge as soon as they make their first appearance in court at arraignments. Specifically, if a motorist blows over a .08 BAC on a calibrated Intoxilizer 5000 breath machine, or refuses to blow into that machine at the police precinct when properly asked, a judge will suspend your driver’s license or privilege right away, even though your case has just started and you have not been found guilty of a crime. An experienced and skilled New York Criminal / DWI lawyer knows that this does not necessarily have to be automatic if the DA’s office does not file in court the proper paperwork. An experienced and skilled New York DWI lawyer also knows to request a refusal hearing from the arraignment part to be held within 15 days at the DMW on a refusal case. This is a good means to get your drivers license or privilege restored while the case is still pending, or at the very least this is a good forum to hear the arresting police officer testify early in the case before a DA can “help” him piece together the circumstances surrounding the arrest and prosecution. An experienced and skilled New York DWI / Criminal lawyer will also help guide an accused get a pre-conditional driver’s license if he is suspended pending prosecution so they can drive for certain purposes, or a conditional license for after the case is finished if the motorist is suspended. Aaron Wallenstein is a premier New York Criminal lawyerwho has had numerous DWI cases in New York dismissed. He handles DWI Cases in most New York Counties Such as Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Rockland, Westchester, Richmond, Nassau, and Suffolk.

Once you have been arrested for a crime in New York most people will contact New York criminal lawyers because of a concern of the impact that their case will have on their liberty and their livelihood. NYC DUI Lawyers should be able to give you somewhat of an expectation as to the possibilities of your avoiding having a criminal record, based on your case, and the possibility of exposure to serving any jail time, and how much time that might be.

While every individual case is different, New York criminal lawyers should be able to extract from you the elements of your alleged criminal conduct that will factor into your exposure to having a criminal record and serving jail time. The right attorney should be able to discuss with you how to navigate a path to hopefully avoiding any criminal record, or jail time, or even getting your case dismissed or receiving a plea offer that will have you avoid any criminal record and lesson any possible punishment. Aaron Wallenstein is a top New York criminal lawyer that can help you in achieving the best possible results for your case.

Your criminal attorney should also discuss with you how the county you are arrested in tends to prosecute your type of case. Different counties will handle cases differently and maybe harsher than other counties on different crimes in New York. Some counties will offer to plea bargain on certain criminal charges will others will only allow you to plead to only the top charge.

Some counties may force you to waive speedy trial time and or “grand jury presentation time” in order to discuss a possible plea offer. Sometimes New York criminal lawyers will voluntarily request the waiving of this time to discuss a possible plea bargain or present certain evidence to a prosecutor to attempt to clear an accused or to try to get a plea offer. New York criminal attorneys should know if your arrest is a case that you should be waiving time to discuss a plea offer, or to present evidence tending to clear the accused, or in the contrary if your case is the type that you should force the prosecutor to move forward with a case to the next stage giving the prosecutor scant amount of time. Aaron Wallenstein is a top NYC criminal lawyer that practices in both State and Federal court in most New York counties such as; Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Nassau, Westchester, Staten Island, Rockland and Suffolk.

Recent Law Changes and Trends in DWI DUI Cases in New York That Your criminal attorney in NYC Should Discuss with You

Leandra’s Law

A few years ago legislature in New York made it a requirement that just about anyone arrested for a DWI DUI in New York was required to undergo a screening or assessment for alcohol treatment within 5 days of their arrest whether or not they would ever be convicted of the crime. DUI lawyers were scrambling around quickly to get clients the best OASAS certified screeners for their clients. But that was nothing compared to the recent addition of law requiring anyone convicted of a misdemeanor or felony DWI DUI (including first time offenders) in New York to install an ignition interlock system into their car.

An ignition interlock is a device that requires a person to blow into a breathtesting machine to not only start their car but to continuously blow into said machine every so often to keep it running. The ignition interlock must be installed in any car owned or driven by a person who was convicted of a DWI DUI in New York. NYC DWI DUI criminal attorneys had to explain to their clients that such a law meant that a person could never borrow a car from a friend or relative, could never rent a car or drive any car unless an ignition interlock were installed during the time period for which the court would require the installation of the ignition interlock. Most courts in New York City are requiring instillation of the ignition interlock for six months or one year (but could be as high as 5 years). . .

Discuss Your Federal And State Drug Cases With Qualified and Skilled New York Criminal Lawyers and Attorneys

Drug cases in New York are prosecuted very harshly in both State and Federal Court. New York Criminal lawyers and attorneys will tell you that factors that will impact your case is whether your case is brought in Federal or State Court, whether you were arrested for selling or simply possessing the drug, the volume of drugs that you possessed or sold, and what type of drug are you accused of possessing or selling.

NY Criminal Lawyers should discuss with you what factors would deem your case appropriate for Federal or State Court. Generally speaking drug cases filed in Federal Court would tend to have you facing harsher punishment, although that is not always the case. One of the main factors that would cause a drug case to be filed in Federal Court as opposed to State Court would be if the drugs were brought into this country from another country or if the drug was brought across state lines. Usually a long term investigation spanning many years and many different locations with multiple co-defendant’s involved would be a case more typically brought into Federal Court. Typically Federal cases involve more wire tapping of telephones and surveillance video as evidence. State cases usually have more direct buys or observations by undercover police officers. Search warrants are typical in both jurisdictions. Sometimes a case could commence in one jurisdiction and then could be switched to the other jurisdiction at another time. Sometimes both Federal Agents and State or City Police are investigating a New York Drug case at the same time. Be sure to discuss your drug case with a New York criminal lawyer, such as Aaron Wallenstein, that appears in both Federal and State Court for criminal defense cases.

Should I Go Tell My New York DWI Attorneys To Go To Trial With My DWI DUI Case?

As DUI lawyers can tell you, people accused of a crime have different perspectives when they walk into our offices to retain our services. Most people who have been arrested and charged with a crime that retain our services as New York criminal attorneys and lawyers will tell us from the outset that they want us to do our best to dispose of their case in the best possible fashion, usually in one of the outcomes that we described when they hired us as criminal attorneys.